Using hard, mad-ass beats, Armand Van Helden quickly became a much-sought after remixer, because of his unique style to turn any song into a thumping hard-house track. He's rarely used a full vocal performance on his remixes - instead, Armand takes only what's necessary, combines it with exciting sirens, intense basslines and solid beats and creates and mind-numbingly rigid track.
"House music for me is about a multicultural mix. Speedgarage is a part of bringin' black folks back into the clubs. That's what it really means to me. And to me that's real important."
--
Armand Van Helden,
Grandfather of Speedgarage
The Armand Van Helden remix of CJ Bolland's "Sugar is Sweeter" defined the whole [speed garage] sound with that huge breakdown and massive bass-line. He was the first one to really come up with any sort of formula for the music.
Armand, "For me when I first started to make Speedgarage, I didn't term it as Speedgarage. I'd been into drum and bass for years. The scenario was, I'm not gonna try and make drum and bass, I'm gonna take it and put it with house and see what happens. That's all it is, that's the birth of Speedgarage."
One of these people doing it well is New Jersey based producer Todd Edwards. Van Helden cites Edwards as the best of the "other side" of Speedgarage, that of tight beats with an underlying garage influence. This style is most evident on Edwards' single "Dancing for Heaven".